Eclipse: Book Two of the Dark Tide Trilogy by Edmondson Dayne

Author:Edmondson, Dayne [Edmondson, Dayne]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Dark Star Publishing
Published: 2017-03-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12 - Total Eclipse of the Sun

“Federation signatures. Hundreds of them, sir.”

Martin let out a huge sigh of relief and sat back in his chair. The black fleet had arrived. “Praise God.”

Outside the viewport of the Independence a carrier, two cruisers and various smaller capital ships emerged from shadow space to take the position between the Independence and Krai’kesh capital ships. Fighters hurtled out of the carrier moments later, while the cruisers fired railgun projectiles and missiles in swarms at the nearest Krai’kesh capital ships.

“This is Supreme Commander Dawyn Darklance of the FSS Nightblade hailing the Independence. Do you copy?”

Martin wiped the tears from his eyes, cleared his throat and signaled Zigana to open the channel. “This is Acting Admiral Rigsby of the FSS Independence. Reading you loud and clear, sir. And if I may say so, we are much relieved by your arrival. We did not receive your message until moments ago.”

“Then it was a good thing we arrived on time, isn’t it?” The Supreme Commander stood on the bridge of the Nightblade, the space battle ensuing behind him through the viewport. His dark blue eyes looked off-screen for a moment before coming back to focus on Martin. “Our sensors are detecting two Krai’kesh fleets, is that correct?”

“Yes, they split their forces. We expect they were waiting to do a hammer and anvil maneuver. The force nearest the planet is bombarding our ground forces.”

“We will take care of it,” Dawyn said. “You did well, Admiral, based upon the odds I see here.”

You haven’t heard about Serpentis III yet. I let them drop a moon on that planet. Or Velmar V where we didn’t have enough forces to stop them from wiping out the colony. That may change your opinion of my performance. But all he said was, “thank you, sir. I shall brief you when this battle is concluded.”

“The supreme tactical commander will be in touch with your tactical commander to coordinate our efforts. Stand by.” The link closed.

“Receiving information and instructions from the Nightblade, sir,” Zigana reported. “Shall I comply with their orders?”

“Yes, slave us to their tactical command structure. You’ve earned the rest.”

“Thank you, sir.”

***

When the first void portals had opened, Selene had stared. Hundreds of portals stretched across the vastness of space, expelling forth capital ship after capital ship. Her HUD showed four star carriers plus the Nightblade deploying fighters. In seconds her HUD counted over six hundred Federation fighters and bombers deployed. Amazing.

The discipline with which the fighters formed up and deployed was admirable. They flew in perfect formation toward the Krai’kesh fighters. Coilguns, lasers and missiles hurtled through the void and in the first wave destroyed half the Krai’kesh fighters.

Her communication link beeped. The CAG came on the line. “Attention all fighters assigned to the Independence, we are linking to the CAG of the Nightblade and their fighter control. Stand by.” The link closed, then came back, filled with cool, calculated chatter concerning tactical commands.

“Omega Squadron, move to sector seven. Dragon Squadron, make your bombing run, Victory Squadron will support.

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